NORMANDEAU, Pierre-Aimé (1906-1965)

While working as a modeling sculptor for the T. Carli company, Pierre-Aimé Normandeau took night courses at the Monument-National and became a student at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal in 1927. Over the course of his studies, he earned first place in drawing and modeling sculpture and won a competition held for the creation of the Monument aux Morts Français de Montréal in Lafontaine Park. Upon graduating, he opened a workshop and completed many sculptures, including a large low relief for the tomb at the high altar of Outremont’s Saint-Germain church and sandstone and terracotta statues of various sizes. He also created bronze trophies and medals, including a medal for the École des beaux-arts that he later won in 1931. In 1932, he received a scholarship and went to study at the École Supérieure de Céramique in Sèvres. Following internships at the porcelain factory and the Royal Ceramic School in Faenza, he traveled across France and Italy working in ceramic factories and workshops. Returning to Montreal in 1935, he opened a ceramic workshop on Saint-Urbain Street in a former hôtel particulier designed by Ernest Cormier; he taught and did research there for more than ten years, exploring and publishing numerous articles on different techniques in ceramics and enameling. He headed the pottery division of the Canadian Ceramic Society from 1948 to 1950 and was appointed to the executive committee of the Canada Council for the Arts in 1953. His sandstone sculptures, such as Figure accroupie (1954), reflect his attention to form and texture.